Home security

Residents urge others to follow their neighborhood watch example

STOCKTON - Growing up, Miriam Deuel always dreamed of living in a charming neighborhood just like the one that she and her husband, Dan, their four young children and their dog, Bailey, today call home.

Comment

By Scott Smith

recordnet.com

By Scott Smith

Posted Oct. 26, 2012 at 12:01 AM

By Scott Smith

Posted Oct. 26, 2012 at 12:01 AM

How to start a neighborhood watch

The Stockton Police Department will help you set up a Neighborhood Watch Group if 10 to 15 of your neighborhoods show interest. To learn more, visit the department's website at stocktongov.com/poli...

» Read more

X

How to start a neighborhood watch

The Stockton Police Department will help you set up a Neighborhood Watch Group if 10 to 15 of your neighborhoods show interest. To learn more, visit the department's website at stocktongov.com/police and click the Crime Prevention button. You also can call the Community Services Section at (209) 937-8489.

» Social News

STOCKTON - Growing up, Miriam Deuel always dreamed of living in a charming neighborhood just like the one that she and her husband, Dan, their four young children and their dog, Bailey, today call home.

Unlike the new cookie-cutter developments on the outskirts of town, the Caldwell Village neighborhood is tucked up against University of the Pacific. Each house on the tree-lined streets has a unique character. Deuel called it a throwback to another time.

"I love history," said Deuel, 33, who admits a fondness for her wooden floors, arched doorways and a nook in the wall where the phone used to hang.

Fending off criminals from her neighborhood was never part of that dream.

In response to a surge in car thefts and other crimes, she and others in Deuel's neighborhood formed watch groups.

On Thursday - three days after a deranged gunman put the spotlight on their neighborhood - Deuel and her neighbors gathered to share their success stories and encourage others to do the same to combat Stockton's crime surge.

"Now more than ever, we need to neighbor-up," said Kristina Knudsen, a Neighborhood Watch organizer. "We need to pull together."

Residents didn't want to dwell on Monday's tragedy, perpetrated by Colin McGrattan, 45, who killed his ex-wife, her sister and her aunt before turning the gun on himself.

While no community organizing could have stopped McGrattan, Officer Joe Silva of the Stockton Police Department credited an alert neighbor there for helping police speed up their investigation.

The anonymous neighbor told police she saw a silver minivan leave the North Regent Street home of 64-year-old Kathleen Arata, who had just been slain. Minutes later, officers spotted that same van parked in front of the care home, causing investigators to quickly link the two crime scenes.

About 100 residents of the midtown neighborhood have banded together in watch groups, and the number is growing.

Amid a rash of burglaries about two years ago, Marci Waller organized her neighbors. She said it was easy to do with a call to the Police Department for help getting her and her neighbors started.

"We are the eyes. We're the ears. We're the heart of the city," said Waller, adding that their efforts have paid off. "People that are up to no good don't like eyes watching them. It does work."

It took an unsettling home burglary in January for Joan and Al Bottini to organize their neighbors. The intruder took pillowcases from their bed to load up Joan's jewelry, the couple's video camera and other valuables.

Joan Bottini, 74 called the police the next, saying she wanted set up a watch program.

"How do we do this?" she asked a community service officer. Bottini now communicates neighborhood news by email and walks the block, and they have barbecues. "We all tell each other if we're going to be gone for more than 24 hours."

Residents of the midtown neighborhood have organized into small watch groups street by street, and they also communicate more widely in a network of many local watch groups.

Neighbors Judy Cabral, 64, and Sharon Testo, 65, said they are working on setting up their own. Monday's murder struck home not just because a victim lived around the corner, Cabral said. She and the slain woman were the same age.

"It resonated to me," said Cabral, who figures she has a lot of living to do. "Those things do strike a nerve."

It wasn't the only violence to befall the neighborhood. In August, an argument turned deadly when a 68-year-old man was killed in the backyard of a neighborhood rental home. On Mother's Day, Cabral had a scare, opening the back door.

"I thought I was going to let my cat in," she said. "The next thing I know, I'm face to face with a stranger."

Cabral said she shouted with a deep voice and the man ran, leaving her startled.

For Deuel, the biggest obstacle in launching her watch group was getting up the nerve to meet new neighbors. She found some tricks - taking her dog as a conversation piece, complimenting the neighbor's landscaping or simply saying, "I don't think we've met before."

"Usually, they're thrilled to meet you," Deuel said. "It's getting over that initial fear when we meet somebody new and say 'Hi.' "